Trump says Iran faces ‘easy way or hard way’ as US weighs next steps

Washington: US President Donald Trump on Saturday said Washington would soon decide its next steps towards Iran, warning that Tehran would face either “the easy way or the hard way”.

Speaking to reporters outside the White House, Trump said Iran had been “decimated” but did not disclose what action his administration was considering.

“We have a decision that I’ll make about Iran. Iran’s been decimated. So the only question is, it’ll either be the easy way or the hard way,” Trump said.

Trump has offered few details about his plans or a timeline for any further action, while saying the situation was progressing favourably and that Iran was not doing well.

The US President had also hinted at his next move on Friday, saying that revealing his plans would generate significant headlines.

“If I told you, you’d have a major story, right? But you’ll see. Working out very well. Iran is not doing well,” he told reporters.

Trump has previously said the conflict with Iran would end “very quickly” and predicted that oil prices would fall sharply once hostilities ended.

Speaking to reporters in Texas, he said Iran was facing a choice over how the conflict would conclude, pointing to the country’s economic and military difficulties.

“Iran will very soon be ending one way or the other,” Trump said.

He cited what he described as Iran’s high inflation, lack of money and currency problems, and claimed that the country’s military, navy and air force had been heavily degraded.

“One way or the other, it’s going to end very quickly. And when that ends, oil prices are going to drop like a rock,” Trump said.

AP